Students from the University of Maryland are trying to build a human-powered helicopter that can hover at least a minute, reach a height of 3 meters (10 feet), and stay within a 10-meter distance from its liftoff point, all this in order to win the $250,000 Sikorsky Prize. It’s difficult to build a working four-rotor […]
On August 29, 2012, NASA took this pic of the Cookie Monster on Mercury. Anyone Else Think This Looks Like the Cookie Monster? Ok, so maybe it’s just me. But the superposition of younger craters on older craters (in this case two smaller craters upon the rim of an older crater) can result in landforms […]
You’ve heard Bill! Now do your part to help! Bill Nye needs your help! We’re writing the President of the United States, asking him to restore the funding cuts to NASA’s planetary exploration program. [Planetary.org/SOS]
Ever thrown something in the washing machine, even though it didn’t really need a full wash? Later regretted that decision because the piece of clothing has come out just a little bit stretched out and a little more worn down? Well Lisa Marie Bengtsson, a London designer, wanted to come up with a solution. The […]
Over the night of 4-5 October 2012, the Sun decided things were getting a bit boring in the solar system and decided to inject some fun. Perhaps eject is a better term. The Sun flung off a bunch of energetic particles in what is known to the astro nerds as a coronal mass ejection. The […]
Yep, robots are invading the oceans. So what if turtles are dying out? We’ll replace them with these robotic babies. Ok, not really. This is a turtle-inspired cargo vessel, from what I can tell. It travels at about 7 knots and stores its goods in its little shell. There’s also space in there for its […]
Have you ever wanted to take control of your dreams? Now you can, with the science of how to lucid dream! With these simple steps, and a little practice, you’ll soon experience sleep like never before. [ASAPScience]
Absolute zero is the absolute coldest temperature anything can be, but is there a limit to how hot something can get? [VSauce]
Did you now that the fixative (Ambergris) in perfumes that allows the product to keep on smelling good on your skin for a long time comes from whale barf? But thanks to researcher Baillie Redfern from the University of British Columbia that may fortunately soon change. [Phdcomics]
The image doesn’t quite properly explain that the orbits are actually those of MESSENGER, the NASA spacecraft that was trying to orbit Mercury (not the orbit of Mercury itself). Don’t blame the spacecraft though – it’s Mercury’s lopsided mass and thus its unstable gravity field that has it in a wibbly wobbly orbit (probably caused […]